March Madness Bets Reach New Highs, Shaking Up College Sports
05 November 2026
This year's NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments have created a perfect storm for betting as a $3.3 billion industry. The American Gaming Association (AGA) estimates that in 2024, legal wagers on March Madness will far eclipse the $15.5 billion bet in 2023, according to a competing report from Phys.org. With games underway on March 19 for men and March 22 for women, fans are engaging in a record number of online bracket contests, office pools, and digital sportsbook wagers.
The meteoric rise of March Madness betting is driven by a confluence of factors. Most prominently, mobile gambling technology has made wagering far more accessible and socially acceptable, as Penn State sports betting expert Brad Herman explained. Whereas betting was once limited to trips to Las Vegas or select states, mobile apps now allow fans to place bets from their smartphones. This has changed fan behavior around March Madness, particularly as betting options and even promotional free bets are "as close as your phone," according to a report yesterday from the Associated Press.
The accessibility of mobile wagering means that many fans are now participating in the tournament not just by filling out brackets, but by putting real money on specific games and props. Kalshi, an event-based prediction market, turned March Madness into its most popular category for the second straight year despite NCAA objections, according to a March 24 report from Bloomberg. The company logged over $2.27 million in trading volume on men's college basketball in February alone, a figure larger than the $2.7 billion in legal wagers on March Madness projected by the AGA.
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Meanwhile, prop bets shine a new spotlight on individual NCAA athletes' performances, raising concerns about game integrity and the pressure placed on players. The NCAA has pushed for state regulators to eliminate college player prop bets since 2022, but policy has lagged the betting boom. Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Vermont ban individual athlete props while a number of other states are debating further restrictions. Kentucky's HB 904 seeks to prohibit prop bets on in-state students, raise the legal sports betting age to 21, and tighten regulation of daily fantasy sports. Minnesota's SF 4139 would legalize online sportsbooks via tribal partnerships while still outlawing player props. Washington state leads the pack in expanding access to legal college sports betting, by prohibiting player prop markets but maintaining protections for the college games.
With legal wagers on March Madness projected to reach nearly $3.3 billion this year, the commercial and cultural weight of the event is set to shake up college sports. While the impact on game integrity remains to be seen, betting continues to fundamentally reshape how fans experience the NCAA tournament. The challenge now for regulators is to strike a balance that protects athletes while capitalizing on betting's popularity to engage fans in the action.